Ken Gailer's Paintings are Colorful Pop Culture Mashups

With his latest series of paintings, Australian artist Ken Gailer has proven that pop culture mashups are just as effective when the pop culture featured hails from the 1950s, instead of contemporary decades. Each of his paintings shows a ton of pin-up girls posing in their vintage bathing suits amid a flurry of colors. Embedded in these swirling hues are several other women from the 1950s, all looking exceptionally lighthearted and playful. This, indeed, is the atmosphere that Gailer wished to put forth with his series.

Most models in today's magazines and lookbooks are concentrated on looking sultry and serious. With his paintings, Gailer wished to remind viewers that beauty can be found in lightheartedness and carefree spirits. To appear beautiful, women do not always have to pout their lips and stare piercingly into a camera; on the contrary, as Gailer's works indicate, women are often at their most beautiful when they're at their most naturalistic.